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UK diy (uk.d-i-y) For the discussion of all topics related to diy (do-it-yourself) in the UK. All levels of experience and proficency are welcome to join in to ask questions or offer solutions. |
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Years ago, at a party while I was at university, the conversation turned (as
it sometimes does after a lot of alcohol has been consumed) to lateral thinking puzzles, mostly involving people dying is ways that make murder look like suicide - or indeed suicide look like murder, and involving people of restricted stature, failed tape recordings, piles of sawdust or puddles of water. One person said "More people die on their birthday than any other day. Why is this?" This was presented as if it were a fact. We had no way of knowing whether it was indeed the case - it was long before Wkipedia and articles such as https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birthday_effect which describe the effect and give various medical reasons. We tried all the obvious things like "does this include babies that are born dead or who die within a few hours" and "does it include alcohol-related accidents when people do stupid things at their birthday party". No, we were told. We were over-thinking the problem and over-complicating it. The reason was blindingly obvious. The question became really quite smug (to the point that I could see some of my mates were itching to punch his lights out!) and said that the teacher had asked the question when he was a lad at school; although he'd never been asked it before or even thought about it, he got the answer immediately. He was amazed than none of us could work it out. "Is this true in all cultures?" "Is it true even if you don't know the date and therefore whether today is your birthday?" He just smiled smugly and repeated that we were thinking far too deeply and analytically about it. Sadly we never did find out the answer: it was left as "I'll let you think about it. Come and tell me when you eventually work out the answer" and I never saw him again. Can anyone think of a logical reason, which doesn't involve alcohol-related accidents, people who are terminally ill holding out until their next birthday, depression/suicide "I'm a year older than I was" etc? Something which is "blindingly obvious" even to a ten-year-old at school? |
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